MP Chehayeb: Syria is trying to obstruct Lebanon’s Special Tribunal

 

MP Akram Chehayeb of the Democratic Gathering bloc headed by MP Walid Jumblatt said that the Syrian regime’s maneuvering is aimed at obstructing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

 

“Lebanon did not participate in the summit so as not to acquit Damascus of obstructing the Lebanese presidency and other institutions,” he said.

 

According to Chehayeb, the government’s decision to boycott the Arab Summit was appropriate, as Lebanon does not want to “polish” the image of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

 

“Lebanon’s representative will not shake the hand that ordered the assassinations of Lebanon’s martyrs, the martyrs of independence and freedom from 1975 till the present,” he said.

 

Chehayeb noted that the problem does not lie with the presidency or the government. “The problem is that Syria considers Lebanon a district that it was robbed of.”

 

He added that the period from 2005, the date of the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Lebanon, to the present does not exist for the Syrian regime.

 

“Originally, they did not recognize the Lebanese entity. Lebanon wants relations based on equal footing, and they want to rule the country. They consider themselves to be on a trip out of Lebanon and hope to return very soon,” Chehayeb added.